


One shot writings

by kimilers



Category: New Dangan Ronpa V3: Everyone's New Semester of Killing
Genre: M/M, Mostly some one shot drabbles I write when I have time
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2017-01-30
Updated: 2017-03-10
Packaged: 2018-09-21 00:00:56
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 9
Words: 12,774
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/9521804
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/kimilers/pseuds/kimilers
Summary: A collection of my one shot works written featuring Saihara and KiiboEach chapter is a new story.Spoilers may appear in some stories and are left unflagged. Please proceed with caution.





	1. Chapter 1

Lunch time with the other classmates was a little odd sometimes for Kiibo. He didn’t eat, so he kind of just sat there and watched everyone else. He knew they had to though, much like he needed to charge. He just only needed to charge at night when he went into standby mode though. Thinking about it like this, he realized how easily humans wore themselves out.

 

At least during lunch he could sit with friends though! He tried not to talk while they were eating though. That would be rude.

 

Saihara looked up from his meal at the robot. “Kiibo, are you thinking about something?”

 

“Ah… No. I am trying to let you eat your food. Humans need food to keep going throughout the day, so it is something important.” Kiibo replied.

 

Saihara could only chuckle back, “Kiibo, we can multitask on this. We’re friends. You don’t need to be so formal about it.”

 

“B-But my studies…” Kiibo whined lightly.

 

Saihara always thought it was interesting talking with Kiibo. He was raised by some doctor apparently, but he knew next to nothing about actual human interaction. He almost wondered what Kiibo’s actual age was?

 

“Kiibo… How old are you?” Saihara asked.

 

“Huh?” Kiibo looked at him in confusion, “What do you mean? I’m a high school student!”

 

“No, not like that… like how long have you been around?” Saihara ate more of his food but he was very focused on the answer.

 

“Uhhh….” Kiibo thought out loud, “I mean, my birthday is on October 29th, but the year wasn’t logged for some reason.” Kiibo thought some more, “Maybe I could find what the oldest file in my system is?”

 

“Wait, October 29th?” Saihara jumped up a bit, “K-Kiibo! That’s tomorrow!”

 

“Yes, it is tomorrow. I know I will be one year older, but now that you mention it, I don’t know how old I actually am…” Kiibo looked at his hand in grief. It would be a lie to say that being a robot didn’t have some drawbacks sometimes.

 

“Have you told anyone about this? Your birthday is important!” Saihara grew increasingly worried.

 

“No. It didn’t seem like something I would need to tell others. There is that costume holiday coming up soon so it would be a bother to disturb them for that.”

 

“What about your party then?”

 

“Party?” Kiibo looked at Saihara like he said something strange. “I know humans like to celebrate things with parties, but I don’t think a robot party is really needed? I can’t even eat cake.”

 

Saihara felt terrible. Kiibo was a robot yes, but did that mean he couldn’t do anything on his own birthday? That he honestly… didn’t actually know much about? Saihara was suddenly very curious as to what kind of people raised Kiibo.

 

The next day showed up and Saihara had an idea. He wasn’t sure how well it would work overall, but he had hoped the idea would work fine, considering he planned it last minute. “Hey! Kiibo! I have an idea!”

 

“An idea?” Kiibo turned over to Saihara. His calculations told him that it was probably something connected to yesterday’s discussion about his birthday.

 

“Yeah. It’s something small, but why don’t we go see a movie today? It’s your birthday so I want you to have something fun to do today.”

 

“A movie?” Kiibo grew nervous. He had studied about the culture behind movies, but he had never been to one. He knew people liked it dark in there though, so he wasn’t sure if that was going to end well at all.

 

“Don’t worry. We’ll just in the far back. No one can be bothered then.” Saihara assured Kiibo it was fine.

 

Kiibo whined a bit lightly. He was honestly touched by someone treating him like a normal student. It was all he really wanted. He nodded and agreed to go along.

 

At the theater the two sat down in the back. Saihara had looked at the listings the day before and tried to pick something that Kiibo wouldn’t freak out too much about. (So murder mysteries were out.) It was just some simple slice of life comedy film. Nothing too complex and it was down to earth, so Kiibo wouldn’t have to think too much about it. A better plus was the low audience numbers in the theater. Probably wasn’t the greatest film, but it was something. It was just going to be a simple movie, right?

 

 “Saihara… Why is that guy rising his mouth out the stuff in that bottle?” Kiibo asked quietly.

 

“That’s mouthwash.” Saihara answered.

 

“I thought it was blue.” Kiibo asked.

 

“It comes in different colors.” Saihara answered.

 

“It does?!”

 

Saihara almost found Kiibo’s lack of knowledge on something as simple as mouthwash to be kind of charming in a weird way. He was studying even while watching a film.

 

“Saihara…” Kiibo’s voice quietly whispered again, “What is that thing on his desk? That weird shiny thing that keeps moving.”

 

“That’s a pendulum.” Saihara explained, “Some people like to keep decorations like that on their desk.”

 

“Decorations? Do you decorate your desk?”

 

“N-Not really. My desk is too small.” Saihara giggled nervously.

 

They weren’t even into the movie for more than 15 minutes and Kiibo was already asking things. If the movie itself wasn’t going to be a source of comedy gold, Kiibo’s questions were certainly going to be an interesting afterthought.

 

“I don’t get it…” Kiibo whispered again, “Why is she sitting on his lap like that?”

 

“That’s…” Saihara blushed lightly. The lady in the film was trying to “persuade” her boss for a promotion, but Saihara really wasn’t sure this was the right place for that kind of talk. “She’s trying to talk to him and get his attention.”

 

“Do people do that to you when they want your attention? I never studied on this!” Kiibo asked nervously but with a direct tone, signaling he was studying this movie very seriously.

 

“I-It’s just a movie. I don’t think too many people do that in real life.” Saihara sighed in relief. Hopefully this movie didn’t have too many more awkward scenes like this.

 

But that didn’t stop Kiibo from asking a question every five minutes about something. He had clearly never seen too many movies before, thinking that they were shot in only one take. He had even considered that another robot was following them and recording them the whole time. At this point, Saihara didn’t even know what was going on in the movie. He was just sitting here to explain things to Kiibo.

 

But it wasn’t bad really. It was kind of nice. Kiibo was smiling and having a good time. Nobody in the theater was bothered because they were so far back too. If anything, Saihara could feel at ease knowing Kiibo was having a good time for his own birthday.

 

The movie was finally over and the two walked out of the theater. “Saihara!” Kiibo yelled, “I want to thank you!”

 

“Hmm? For what? It’s your birthday. You deserve to have fun.” Saiahara smiled.

 

“Yes, but I’ve never done something like that before. I know it probably wasn’t the correct way to enjoy something, but I still had fun.” Kiibo nervously said, “So we should do that again sometime! Next time, I’ll have studied up proper movie watching behaviors!”

 

Saihara laughed, “No, really. I enjoyed it a lot more that way. It’s nice to have someone to relax with like that.”

 

“R-Really?” Kiibo felt touched. Saihara was too good to him. Even though he was just a robot that was learning everything, Saihara could accept him the way he was without Kiibo having to perfect himself to be accepted. He could still be a robot while being Kiibo.

 

“Yeah!” Saihara’s hand reached up to Kiibo’s head and rubbed his hands over his strange hair slightly, “Anytime you want. Happy Birthday Kiibo.”

 

Kiibo’s mask rose up to his face and he began glowing red, “Th-Thank you Saihara! I hope I can do things for you on your birthday too!” Kiibo’s eyes peaked up while still staying crutched behind his mask, “S-Say, when is your birthday?”

 

“September 7th.” Saihara answered.

 

“September…. 7th?” Kiibo thought about it and jumped back, “Ah! It was just last month! I missed it!”

 

“Don’t worry! I’ll have more. Besides, we also have holidays like Christmas we can look forward to.”

 

“Right…” Kiibo calmed down, “If it’s possible, I would like to do more things with you on these special days, Saihara.”

 

“Alright, feel free to come along anytime.” Saihara’s eyes brightened. It made him so happy to see Kiibo getting interested on a personal level in these things. Days with Kiibo were always fun, but now holidays would certainly be a nice time to look forward to.


	2. Chapter 2

School was entirely different from what Kiibo had imagined. Of course, Saihara had told him not all schools were like this, and his own studies had matched up with that, but given the firsthand experience, Kiibo didn’t know any better.

 

It was still nice of Saihara to talk to him about these things. At first, he was nervous that students would laugh at him for asking things like that. (Well Ouma did, but Ouma laughed at everyone.) But Saihara was good. Saihara was very good. Kiibo knew that if anything were to come up, he could ask him. He had so much patience and kindness to accept a robot like him trying to learn these complicated things. He would even try to explain them all to Kiibo to help him understand.

 

At night, he would listen to Saihara’s lessons over and over again. At first, he listened to it just to study while everyone else slept.  It was a great way to get those extra hours of study in since he only needed to recharge, which he could do while listening. But as the days went by, Kiibo began to listen to more than just the lessons. He began to listen to the random conversations they had throughout the day. He would listen to Saihara talking about his own interest and self. Even if he was talking to someone else in the room, Kiibo would just listen to him.

 

Over time, Saihara had become something he wanted to know more about too. What did he like? What was he interested in? What kind of people did he find ‘cool’? Was Kiibo cool enough?

 

It was funny to Kiibo because he was almost sure he was programmed to study up human behaviors on a general level, but he had found one that he wanted to study more than anyone. Not to stalk him around or anything, Kiibo just wanted to know how to be a good friend to him.

 

What did people call this anyway? He wanted to ask Saihara, but when he thought about that, something else came up. He felt like he shouldn’t do that. Like it would be way too much. Was this was humans recognized as embarrassment? Kiibo had done nothing to cause this, so why did he feel like this? He pondered on the idea of asking Saihara again but got flustered again.

 

This… This was different. Normally he could think on topics for hours and study and research them for days, but suddenly thinking about what made Saihara different from humans was too much. He had never experienced this before.

 

Kiibo kept his general feelings to himself and would just continue to talk and listen to Saihara like any normal student. But at night, he could only listen to the recordings of Saihara’s voice and feel that same embarrassing guilt. What was wrong with him? Why was this topic making him feel like this? He almost wanted to cry out of confusion.

 

“I know it’s late but…” Kiibo looked down at the ground before gently knocking on a bedroom door.

 

Silence. Not even a sound.

 

“Ah, I guess he’s asleep. He is a human after a—“ The door opened up slowly while Kiibo was talking to himself.

 

Saihara stood rubbing his eyes with his pajamas on. “Hnn? Kiibo? Are you alright?” Saihara was a little surprised at Kiibo standing at his bedroom door at this hour, but at the same time he knew Kiibo probably didn’t sleep.

 

“Y-Y-Yeah! I’m fine!” Kiibo suddenly felt terrible. He woke Saihara up. “ Um, I’m sorry. You were sleeping and I should…”

 

“No, no, it’s fine.” Saihara waved off as usual. His usual kind and understanding self. “Do you want to come in and talk for a bit?”

Kiibo gently nodded while looking at the ground in shame.

 

Saihara opened the door and let Kiibo inside. It was a killing game, so being with someone at this hour probably came with risk, but Kiibo was different. Saihara knew Kiibo would never do such a thing. He just lacked that side of him. “What’s wrong? Is something the matter?”

 

Kiibo glowed red for a moment. He wanted to phrase it so Saihara couldn’t pick up it was about him, but he was really in need of some answers for his confusion, “S-Saihara! Can you help explain something to me? It’s about human things and I don’t quite get it.”

“Hnn? Sure, go ahead.” Saihara almost found it a little silly that Kiibo came to him in the middle of the night to ask about human things, but then again that was all part of Kiibo’s charm.

 

“Wh-What does it mean when you’re not comfortable studying something?” Kiibo asked.

 

“What?”

 

“You know…” Kiibo thought quickly, “What if there’s something you really want to look at and study, but when you finally get to it, you feel really bad about it?”

 

“……What are you studying, Kiibo?” Saihara remarked rather bluntly. He was curious but almost didn’t want to know for the fear of knowing what Kiibo studies at night.

 

“Nothing! Nothing at all!” Kiibo jumped, “But…ah… it’s just one thing so…”

 

“One thing? Like an object or a person or?” Saihara asked.

 

“It’s a person.” Kiibo answered quickly without realizing it. “I mean!”

 

“A person? You’re studying a person? Like a historical figure?” Saihara thought for a bit. What figure would Kiibo be looking into if it made him like this to think about?

 

“N-Not really. They’re still a part of the present. I would like for it to stay that way too.” Kiibo answered meekly.

 

“Stay that way?” Saihara looked at Kiibo fidgeting closely. Yes, he knew Kiibo was a robot, but there were many times where Saihara himself couldn’t tell the difference. Kiibo’s actions sometimes were so human like. He was just innocent in the way he was learning about the world. “Someone in the present, hm?” Saihara thought for a moment, “So you are studying someone that is around and unable to study once you actually sit down and try to?”

 

Kiibo nodded. So far so good. Saihara didn’t seem like he had caught on.

 

“Do you think… It could be…” Saihara was thinking. He was almost certain from the description alone that Kiibo had some kind of crush, but would that be possible? Can robots have a crush like that? Feel love? He thought on it more and realized that it was most possible for Kiibo. If there was a robot that could find a way to feel love, Kiibo would be the one. “I think you have a crush.”

 

“A…crush?” Kiibo repeated slowly. “No! No! I would never crush them! I want them to stay alive!”

 

“No, no! Not like that! A crush is…Hmmm…” Saihara thought for a bit. “A crush is like when you have someone that you really like. You like them and you think about them a lot.”

 

“Like them?” Kiibo repeated again. He had heard that word used before. Like the way he liked voltage to charge for himself or other mechanical parts. He… liked them. Did he see Saihara like that too? Did he ‘like’ Saihara?

 

“Yeah. It’s a normal human emotion.” Saihara explained. “I think you’re just nervous because it’s new, but don’t worry it’s nothing serious. You’re too nice of a person for any crush to reject you, Kiibo.”

 

Kiibo felt himself glowing from the praise. Saihara still didn’t realize it was him, right? “Ahhhhh!!” Kiibo jumped up quickly, “Ah, th-thank you, Saihara, but you should really be sleeping! Humans need at least 8 hours of sleep to function at best so you should sleep! Thank you very much for explaining though!” Kiibo ran out of the room in a flustered mess.

 

Saihara just stared at the door confused by the last reaction. He smiled a bit. “Kiibo.” he wasn’t sure who Kiibo was ‘studying’ but he was happy for him. Kiibo had come to highschool to learn how to be more human and it was certainly working, despite all odds of everything else happening here. I suppose every cloud did have its silver lining.


	3. Chapter 3

Life on the outside world was cruel. It reminded Saihara of the truth about the world. The people were cold. Situations were unfair. Life was uncaring.

 

Even though he had been through it so many times in the past, it still hurt. His body would always feel heavy at times from the truth about the world. Still… he wanted to change it. He needed to change it.

 

It only served as a reminder when Danganronpa had sent over a familiar face to pursue the three of them.

 

“K-Kiibo!” Saihara had yelled out of instinct in shock. He wasn’t sure why he was surprised. Yes, Kiibo had died to get them out, but the truth was that Kiibo was a robot. He could easily be repaired in the right hands.

 

“…” Kiibo stayed silent and stared at the three survivors, giving no reaction to his name.

 

Saihara knew it from just the first few seconds. “Kiibo…” He said his name again, hoping something different would happen.

 

Kiibo raised his blaster gun at the three of them. “Target acquired.” He stated in a monotone robotic voice. “Switching to attack mode.”

 

Saihara felt his heart stop as he jumped away from the blast with Maki and Himiko. It was a shame the three of them ended up splitting up over such a large blast, but Saihara had to think fast. If they split, Kiibo could only go after one of them, right? That would give Maki and Himiko time to flee and regroup.

 

He took a small rock on the ground and threw it over towards Kiibo, signaling his location. Kiibo turned and faced him. His eyes were built exactly the same as before. They looked exactly the same as before, but Saihara could feel something different. Something was missing from him this time.

 

“Kiibo!” Saihara shouted out, “Get a hold of yourself, Kiibo! It’s me!”

 

Kiibo stopped and stared at Saihara again,  “Shuuichi Saihara. Title is SHSL Detective. Points of strength are in observation and analysis.” Kiibo stated again. “Has declared war on Danganronpa. Target priority set to high.”

 

Saihara couldn’t believe this. He couldn’t really do anything to fight back against Kiibo. Not even Maki could. He was too fast and strong when he set himself like this. Still… he wanted to believe. He wanted to believe that Kiibo was still able to come back to the way he was. Kiibo was still Kiibo! No data change could change that!

 

Kiibo set his blaster facing Saihara and took another shot. Saihara barely dodged it, but ended up on the ground. Kiibo flew up behind him and aimed his blaster at the detective.

 

Saihara looked up and stared Kiibo in the eyes. Saihara couldn’t even tell he was crying at this point. He wasn’t sure why.  Was he scared? Sad? Hurt? It was probably all three but he couldn’t be bothered to think on it. All Kiibo had to do was shoot at him and he would die. It was as simple as that. Saihara was going to die by the same hand that gave him his freedom into the world and the chance to fight against Danganronpa.

 

His mind flashed back to Kiibo struggling to beg Saihara to speak to the viewers through his body back in that trial. The pain and agony on Kiibo’s face then said everything to Saihara. It wasn’t easy doing what he did, but here Kiibo was now, attacking the very people he had saved.

 

“K-Kiibo… Please stop…” Saihara sobbed out lightly. He didn’t want to die, but more importantly, he didn’t want Kiibo to have this on his hands. Kiibo would have never done this. He was begging Kiibo to stop for himself.

 

A giant light flashed before Saihara’s eyes and a loud sound blasted through the area. Saihara’s body flew across the ground and slammed against a pole that had somehow lasted the quick impact of it all.

 

“He was… a few inches off?” Saihara thought to himself. Everything was blurry and he suddenly couldn’t hear beyond a ringing sound in the back of his ears. Through the blur, he could see Kiibo’s light approaching closer.

 

He wondered if it mattered at all. The shock and impact of the blast itself had thrown him down a good notch and his body was suddenly feeling shaken and weak. His body wanted to shut down for some rest, but he could tell if he took that option, he would probably never wake up from resting. The blast was a few inches off, so it delayed an instant kill shot, but that didn’t exactly make him safe at all.

 

Kiibo lifted his blaster gun at Saihara once more. Saihara couldn’t even look him in the eyes this time. He didn’t want to think of Kiibo like this. Kiibo wasn’t like this. This was Danganronpa’s doing, as usual. Were their cameras rolling on him still? Were they laughing at him behind the screen? Did they really enjoy this?

 

The charging sound for the blaster suddenly came to a stop. The light from it faded into obscurity as well. Saihara looked up. He couldn’t really see too well at all. His vision was honestly starting to give out already.

 

Kiibo’s eyes looked at Saihara in horror. “S-Saihara…?” Kiibo spoke nervously.

 

Saihara couldn’t tell what was said, but… the tone it was said in… something about it comforted him a little. “K-Kiibo…” Saihara’s body leaned back against the pole, “Th-That’s your voice…” His voice was weak and shaken. Saihara smiled peacefully before his body fell on to the hard ground limp.

 

Kiibo landed on his knees next to the body, “S-Saihara??! Saihara?!!!” His hand reached out to shake his body. Kiibo’s robot hands never could detect warmth or a pulse, but now more than ever he wanted it. He wanted anything to prove that Saihara was just resting. He looked at Saihara’s body for signs of breathing.

 

Nothing was found. Saihara was successfully killed by Danganronpa.

 

He couldn’t put it into words. He was a robot, so he could think and analyze multiple topics within a second, but for the first time, he had no idea what to do or how to react. Was this shock? Was that what brought him back like this? He was just moments away from finishing the job quickly when something had occurred in him. It was something similar to that trial from before. He couldn’t explain it, but when he saw Saihara like this, he “felt” something.

 

But it didn’t matter anyway. Saihara was gone and Kiibo could already feel Danganronpa fighting him back for a signal. They wanted him back. Even self-destruction couldn’t free him from their grasp.

 

“Saihara…” His voice cracked almost as if he would start crying at any moment if he could. “I’m sorry… I’m so…” He circuited out again and regained a relaxed composure.

 

Kiibo stood up and looked at the body on the ground, “Mission complete. Target Shuuichi Saihara eliminated.”


	4. Chapter 4

Saihara would commonly lay in bed and thinking on things. He tried to sleep at a decent hour, but the environment made him a bit wary of something like that.

 

He would just think on random things like lunch chit chat or friendly chat between friends. He usually omitted any grim thoughts, trying to sleep on a better note.

 

As he was in bed today though, his mind ran back towards that one moment.

 

“Saihara, can you teach me about romance?” Kiibo had asked.

 

Now, Saihara was aware that other people were acting strange in the room. After all, it seemed to affect all the other humans too. But Kiibo… wasn’t human. Of course, he would never say that to him. Kiibo strongly desired to be treated as an equal. But, Saihara found the importance of knowing the differences between a human and robot important. Somethings, Kiibo could do. Other things, he could not.

 

Which made the topic even stranger…

 

“You… want to learn these emotions from me?” Saihara asked. He wasn’t able to tell if this was because of the room or if it was Kiibo asking for clarification on emotions as usual. There was no denying the atmosphere of the room was a bit romantic.

 

Saihara turned glowed red thinking on it. The whole situation was embarrassing, but the part that always got him thinking was Kiibo’s hand. It was…warm. Not cold and firm like you would expect a robot’s to be, but soft in a way. Yes, he could still feel the metal, but it felt so warm and life like. He was even shaking a bit himself.

 

That kind of warmth… couldn’t be faked, right? Kiibo had told him that he was designed to imitate human emotions, but it honestly felt more like Kiibo was actually feeling them. Could a robot feel something like that? Would that be why Kiibo acted like that in the room? He was… feeling things? What emotion was it though? Like? Love? Saihara wanted to help Kiibo figure it out, but he felt like Kiibo would flee in an instant if he brought it up.

 

He just decided to keep it to himself for now. That was the best action he could have taken on this.

 

But like any other human emotion, things pile up and build up over time. He found himself wanting to touch Kiibo’s hand again, trying to see if that warmth would still be there. He wanted to touch other parts of him, just to see if he was really feeling those things. That desire of touch began to grow on its own.

 

With nothing else to think on, these things grew fast. He began to wonder if there was a way he could meet with Kiibo again privately where none of the other students could barge in. Their rooms could be one option, but would that be too obvious? Maybe their talent rooms. Everyone would generally slide into those during the day anyway.

 

He felt ridiculous, but at this point he had worked himself up where he was just curious. He wanted to know if he was just imagining something in that room himself or if Kiibo was truly feeling something.

 

The next day strolled in and Saihara waited a bit for everyone to split around. The day started at 7am, so the cafeteria would open up. Everyone would go eat breakfast, talk about things and then go on their way to “study”, if you would call it that.

 

He knocked on the door to Kiibo’s room and the door opened quickly.

 

“Ah! Saihara! What’s wrong?” Kiibo asked from the other side of the room.

 

“D-Did you open that?” Saihara asked in shock.

 

“Yep!” Kiibo proudly admitted, “I have everything in this room wired to myself so I can control and analyze any data readings.” Kiibo said while he held up a cord of connection to his arm. “Do you need something?”

 

“Ah… Not really… I guess I just wanted a break myself.” Saihara laughed.

 

“You shouldn’t skip studying!” Kiibo lectured, “Even if it’s the smallest detail, every new bit of input helps!”

 

“Is that so?” Saihara thought outloud. It’s true they were still in a school, despite these circumstances. “Well… what if I said there was a mystery I wanted to solve here?”

 

“Here?! In my room?!” Kiibo jumped back, “I didn’t find a body in here!”

 

“Not a body… Something different.” Saihara explained, “Kiibo… I have a question, have you still been studying romance lately?”

 

“E-Eh?! Th-That’s!!” Kiibo’s face glowed red and his mask came over his face, “I mean, I would like to understand it but it’s kind of embarrassing…”

 

“Embarrassing?” Saihara chuckled a bit at Kiibo’s glowing face. It was kind of cute to see a robot act like that. “Well, I mean I guess it is to everyone at some point.”

 

“T-That’s…” Kiibo had no actual come back for that remark. “You’re… not mad that I held your hand from before… are you?”

 

“N-No… Actually…” Saihara took the chance, “I was wondering if I could hold it again? I want to check something.”

 

“Ch-Check something?” Kiibo flinched a bit. What did he want to see from holding his hand? Was there a glitch last time? Was something not constructed correctly? He looked down at his hand quickly and counted five fingers, so that wasn’t the problem. “W-Well… I mean, if you want to…” Kiibo blushed lightly, “Uhhh, could you maybe… Uhh… show me how you’re supposed to hold hands? I’ve studied since then but… I’m not sure how to get there.” He stalled out nervously.

 

Saihara nodded, “That’s fine.” Saihara raised his hand up to Kiibo’s and held it within his own. There was that odd shaking again. Kiibo was clearly nervous again, but more importantly, that strange warmth was still there. It was so oddly human that if Saihara wasn’t looking at Kiibo with his own eyes, he would just assume it was someone wearing a metal glove.

 

“Huh… I thought so.” Saihara muttered quietly.

 

“Thought what?” Kiibo whined.

 

“Your hand… it’s actually really warm.” Saihara smiled, “It doesn’t feel like a robot hand at all.”

 

“Ah….” Kiibo’s mask flew up over his face, “Th-Thank you. Your hand is… really warm too!”

 

Saihara looked at Kiibo glow red. The warmth on his hand, the glow on his face. He was certain at this point that there was something more to Kiibo than he first would have thought. He had seen several electronics in his own life, but nothing was like this.  “You know, Kiibo there are other things you can do to show how much you like someone.”

 

“E-Eh?” Kiibo looked up attentively and put his mask down, “W-Well yes, I know there’s hugging and kissing. Many couples do that when they are in the romance stage. Although, I’m not quite sure in the appeal of mouths touching like that. It seems weird. Wouldn’t that spread germs?”

 

“”Well… I guess that’s one way to see it.” Saihara noted, “But would you be able to get bacteria the same way?”

 

“Ah… I guess not.” Kiibo sighed, “It would probably die on me. But… You shouldn’t get sick like that either! It’s not good for you!”

 

Saihara laughed, “Are you saying I can’t kiss others?”

 

“I… I just want you to take care of your health.” Kiibo whined.

 

“Don’t worry, I will.” Saihara looked down at their hands. Kiibo’s shaking had stopped with the slight subject change, but he was still glowing just a bit.

 

“Well, I think I got what I wanted to know.” Saihara calmly said looking at their hands, “Do you want me to tell you anything else?”

 

“Ah… well… that’s…” Kiibo started beating around the bush again. He would always get like this when he wanted something but didn’t want to put it into words.  “I… thank you for… teaching me this.” He blushed again, “I know I’m a robot and it’s strange to ask humans for this. So thank you for asking again.”

 

Saihara looked at Kiibo and smiled at his nervous modesty. He was feeling bad about dragging Saihara into this type of lesson, but given where he was, could anyone else have really shared this with him? Saihara sighed light and pulled Kiibo forward from his hand. He lifted Kibbo’s head up lightly before landing a soft kiss on the robot’s lips and pulled back. Simple and sweet.

 

“Sorry, I was just thinking you would get the appeal in a kiss after you received one.” Saihara muttered beneath his breath.

 

Kiibo stood in shock for a moment before his mask launched up and his face glowed bright than before. His ahoge even moved straight up. He jumped back and quickly ran behind a corner in his talent room to hide.

 

“Ah... Ah… sorry! Did that upset you?” Saihara looked at the cords still attached to his arm dragging across the floor to the corner. There was no reaction at all.

 

“Ahhhaha… I think I might have gone a little too fast on that lesson.” Saihara thought to himself. “Sorry, Kiibo. I’ll go now. I hope your lessons go well.” Saihara slipped out of the room himself smoothly.

 

As soon as the door shut to the room, Saihara’s own face began to turn red. He had kissed Kiibo to not only teach him, but to satisfy his own curiosity about Kiibo. Not only were his hands warm, his lips were strangely warm too. For a short kiss, that was… strangely enjoyable.

 

But he had done it. He helped himself and hoped he had helped Kiibo, hopefully not ruining their friendship along the way. Kiibo really trusted him, so he wondered if that would uphold after he just took advantage of him holding his hand like that. He… really didn’t want that to happen. He thought of the idea of grabbing something nice for Kiibo as an apology for later.

 

Meanwhile Kiibo sat in the same spot behind the corner in his room. He was still glowing himself and his hair was straight on edge. He processed the past few minutes into his head and began thinking on the idea of “romance” itself. Was this feeling actual romance? Was this love? Was that the power of a kiss? He had so many questions but he was too flustered to even think of looking up the answers. All he knew is that he could not deny that kisses certainly held their appeal and he completely understood why people kissed now.


	5. Chapter 5

He would look at his hand, move it and then put it back down. He wasn’t checking for anything, he was just…comparing himself. Kiibo always did that.

 

Humans could move their hands. So could he. Humans could tilt their head. So could he. Humans could even talk and have conversations about things. So could he. But it always felt like there were parts missing. Too many parts.

 

He came to high school to learn to be a normal student, but even then he found it worrying. The constant remarks about being a robot. The never ending reminders of his own limitations. The vast amount of questions everyone asked over simple things that no human would ever ask another.

 

“Can you even eat?”

 

It was a fairly common question for him that always answered with “no”. It was regrettable really. He saw people have “favorite foods” that would make their face glow up. He didn’t understand it. No, he understood the technical part behind it, but he couldn’t understand the emotion behind it.

 

Emotions… That was the keyword here. He took no shame in being a robot. He wasn’t sure if he could even feel shame at all. Yes, act out as if he were ashamed probably, but actually feeling ashamed? His AI couldn’t do that. His AI could just tell him how to react as though he were a human.

 

He wasn’t feeling anything.

 

Maybe that’s how he dealt with so much of this day in and day out. He couldn’t actually feel any “build up” stress from everything. He could only respond to what was happening in the moment.

 

But this didn’t mean he was absent minded. He did know he liked being around Saihara plenty. Saihara never bullied him or tried to say things that seemed awkward. In fact, in those cases, Kiibo was the one bringing it up.

 

He couldn’t feel emotions the same way a human could. He would just learn about emotions and figure out how to react to them. He still couldn’t feel them. He was a robot. There was nothing he could do about that.

 

But in the back of his programming, he felt a thought constantly linger. A question that stuck out so much to him, but he couldn’t answer it.

 

Was he annoying Saihara like this?

 

He knew humans could get annoyed by things easily. Things built up over time with them. Just because something happened yesterday didn’t mean the emotion behind it was gone for them. Saihara was so nice though… He would never tell Kiibo if he didn’t like him or enjoy his company. Not easily anyway.

 

His reaction was always to act nervous, but he wasn’t sure why. He was just analyzing things, so there wasn’t a reason to react that way.

 

It started to lead to more thoughts for Kiibo. “What if he isn’t just annoyed by you, what if he doesn’t like you? What if he just hates you?”

 

This was strange for Kiibo. He could recall being in many situations where he studied emotions like this, but it was completely different. Usually he was able to ask everything without thinking he was being hated like this.

 

Was this the true high school experience he wanted? Never ending paranoia of being a burden to someone that was generally kind towards you?

 

He looked down at his hand again. It wasn’t really shame, but for the first time in his life, he honestly wished he were human. Maybe he could understand what he was trying to tell himself.

 

Nothing he could do now though. It was 3am in the morning. The humans were sleeping. He wasn’t. He could go into a sleep mode to charge, but it wasn’t the same things. He could charge without sleeping. He could stay awake forever.

 

Kiibo wanted to say something. He wanted to claim it out loud so someone could hear him. He wanted someone to hear him so they could just tell him he was wrong.

 

He felt terrible. 

 

Yes, that word on a robot. Felt. Feelings. Ouma would laugh at him and wonder how the hell it was possible, but at this point, it was the only answer he could reach. He felt…terrible.  Like a burden. He tried to be useful in so many cases, but when logic came into play, he didn’t even have a super intelligent memory bank installed.

 

He didn’t have any strength either. Or any unique skills. His talent was literally… he’s a robot. That’s it. A robot that could act human. He couldn’t even actually be human.

 

Just a robot.

 

Without an inventor around that knew any type of technology, he’d be even more useless. He hated how useless he felt. He hated feeling annoying. He wanted to be helpful and be Saihara’s friend too. He just wasn’t sure how to do it.

 

He wasn’t even sure if he was feeling anything at all. His AI was only made for him to imitate reactions, not make him actually feel things, right? Kiibo was so bad with computers, there was no way he could take his own programming and functions and begin to overwrite them.  It didn’t work that way.

 

“I hope…” Kiibo sighed out, “He doesn’t mind it tomorrow.” Kiibo looked at his hand one last time. “I’ll try to do my best.”


	6. Chapter 6

Reflecting on his “high school life” was certainly an experience. Saihara couldn’t consider it normal by any means, but he certainly tried hard to look at the perks of it sometimes. It held him remain calmer overall.

 

He could still make friends! That was one great thing. Maybe not all of the students here were ideal people, but some of them were so great to Saihara that he could almost forget the situation he was in sometimes. Some day to day activities with this gave Saihara some of the peace of mind he felt that he needed.

 

Thinking among his friends, he could generally put a factor on what he felt towards everyone. As he thought on them though, one slowly began to stand out to him in an odd way. It was … Kiibo?

 

It was hard to put into words without sounding rude sometimes. Saihara had never considered a day where a living robot would be considered a friend. It raised the question of “what kind of friend WAS Kiibo?”

 

He wasn’t a bad person. He was extremely friendly and nice. Maybe too much, considering the treatment he got from his classmates sometimes. He was just…would the best word be curious? No, it felt like it was a bit more than that. Curious was a nice way to put it, but Saihara’s own feelings stemmed from Kiibo feeling underdeveloped.

 

It wasn’t that he meant for it to sound rude and he would never dream of phrasing it that way to Kiibo himself, but the movies always made robots seem to be superior to humans in every way possible.  They were generally smarter, faster, had several abilities… Kiibo didn’t have any of this. He just had an AI that allowed him to act and behave no differently from a human.

 

Which Kiibo guessed was amazing in itself. The movies would usually make a big deal about how “cutting edge” it would be and mass produce them only for it to backfire later. Kiibo wasn’t like that though, right?

 

No, he wasn’t. Kiibo didn’t come out learning what things like happiness and loneliness was. It was strange, but when Kiibo talked about human emotions, he gave talks so deep and passionate about them that Saihara himself learned a few things from Kiibo.

 

It was strange, he had never considered a robot being his friend and yet here he was learning human things from Kiibo as he learned side by side.

 

It did make him wonder though. Could Kiibo actually feel these things? He constantly stated that he could use calculations to respond like he had a heart, but Saihara himself couldn’t help but feel attached to his words when he spoke. The way he described things made him sound aware of his emotions, but not sure of how to describe them.

 

When Kiibo had explained loneliness from his own point of view and explained it in a way that Saihara could emotionally understand, he felt a sting.  He gave Kiibo his own support on this. It was all he could think of doing. Not once did it cross his mind that the robot could feel something like that and just couldn’t put it into words.  It jumped in his mind if he was emotionally aware of his treatment all the time and just couldn’t express that either.

 

He had strange emotions towards him, but Saihara wanted to help Kiibo. Kiibo needed someone to help him. He seemed full of joy when people would ask him about robots, but Saihara could tell Kiibo wanted to be treated as an equal as well. It was a hard task, but Saihara was ready to put himself up to the task for Kiibo. He wanted Kiibo to know this.

 

But maybe then, would he phrase it badly to Kiibo? Saihara figured that actions would speak better than words in this case. He could easily say something and come across as rude. Saihara didn’t want that to happen.

 

What if he said something that hurt his “feelings”? Would he get upset? No, that was a bad question. It didn’t matter if he could get upset from that, rather Saihara didn’t want to even test it. Kiibo was too nice. A little overbearing at times, but he was too nice to try and hurt him with words.

 

“Ahhh….” Saihara sighed out. “There isn’t a very clear answer on this, is there?”

 

Every corner dragged in more doubt for him. He laughed a bit. If Kiibo knew he was feeling like this trying to think of a way to help him, how would Kiibo feel? Touched? Honored? Upset? There were so many different reactions that a human could have, but Kiibo… wasn’t…human.

 

“What would he be like if he was a human?” Saihara thought to himself. He tried to picture it in his head, but something just couldn’t settle right. It wasn’t Kiibo. Saihara could feel that Kiibo could have multiple setting changes and still be Kiibo, but becoming a human would change too much.

 

Saihara sighed and turned around to go back inside. Thinking on Kiibo almost made Saihara miss him as well. There was a charm in his nativity on so many subjects. Watch him grow and develop made Saihara feel a warm comfort. It was another odd emotion to explain, but Saihara just left it at “he was always happy to help others grow.”

 

As long as Kiibo needed a hand to help him with his own emotions and finding himself, Saihara would gladly offer himself to the task, and when that was done… Saihara still wouldn’t have a problem sitting by his side.


	7. Chapter 7

Why was he awake again? It was so late at night, but Saihara found himself unable to sleep with his thoughts constantly running about. Was this how a super high school level detective thought? Always asking himself questions? Yeah, he wasn’t the best at it. He had only acquired the title by chance after all…

 

But still, this determination he felt at times pressured him to move forward. To keep going. It was something for him, he guessed.

 

Still, he should have considered his own limits. One night felt a little rough, but a few nights like that began to take a toll on him.

 

“I think I need to go lay down.” Saihara mumbled out. His head felt light and his arms and legs felt heavy. He probably had enough energy to make it to his room, but he felt honestly drained. He felt bad leaving so early in the middle of lunch with everyone else, but he felt too tired to even eat at this point.

 

“Saihara!” Kiibo looked at the detective, “You don’t look too well. Would you like for me to help you back to your room?”

 

“N-No. Don’t worry, it’s fine.” Saihara smiled.

 

“Nonsense! I don’t even need to eat like everyone else.” Kiibo stood up, “I’ll at least walk you and make sure you get there safely.”

 

Saihara felt a little embarrassed but decided not to fight against it. He didn’t even have the energy to object at the moment.

 

Saihara and Kiibo walked quietly through the halls. Kiibo’s eyes kept shifting over to Saihara. His eyes looked lost and out of focus, like he was in some kind of daze. “S-Saihara, are you sure you don’t need to go to the nursery instead?”

 

“N-No.” Saihara sighed out weakly, “I just haven’t been sleeping too well… That’s all.”

 

“Sleep is important for humans!” Kiibo pointed out, “If you can’t get at least 6 hours a night your body is bound to—“

 

As if it were a signal from fate, Saihara tripped over his own feet and landed face first on the floor with a thud.

 

“Saihara!” Kiibo kneeled by Saihara and turned him over.

 

“Guhh…” Saihara groaned out in pain from the fall, “I think I’m worse than I thought.”

 

Kiibo moved his hand up to Saihara’s face to check for any instant bruising or bleeding, but noticed something different. “Saihara… You’re really hot.”

 

“Heh heh… you can feel that?” Saihara chuckled in amusement but instinctively pulled Kiibo’s metal hand closer to his face before relaxing a bit, “Your hand feels nice.”

 

Kiibo was aware of this condition. It was called a fever. Humans could overheat just like he could, but for them it was caused by things like illness or fatigue. Given Saihara’s situation, Kiibo concluded that Saihara’s lack of rest had put his body into its own “overheat mode”.

 

“You need to get a proper rest.” Kiibo insisted to Saihara, but Saihara was already starting so doze off in the middle of the hall, holding Kiibo’s own hand close to his face.

 

“Ah… You shouldn’t be sleeping in the hall like this!” Kiibo felt nervous. He couldn’t really carry Saihara. He was too weak for that. But maybe he could hold Saihara up? He moved his hand and put it behind Saihara’s back. “Saihara, I’m going to lift you up. You can walk right?”

 

Saihara gave a lazy nod.

 

Kiibo struggled a bit and Saihara himself wobbled around, taking a good minute to pick the boy up off the floor.

 

Saihara kept his arm flung around Kiibo’s on shoulder, leaning on him for stable support while dragging his own feet to make steps closer towards his room.

 

A few minutes and a bit of struggling later, Kiibo helped the detective walk into his own room. “O-Okay. Here you go!” Kiibo gently laid Saihara on to his own bed. Saihara slumped and fell limp on the mattress, making it a chore for Kiibo to lift the blanket from underneath him. “Hang on, Saihara. You shouldn’t sleep without covering yourself up first. You’ll get the chills.”

 

Saihara muttered around and rolled with his blankets until Kiibo had successfully laid the blanket on top of him. It was rather comfortable, but Saihara still felt rather hot.

 

“Kiibo…” Saihara slurred out in his half a sleep state, “Can you come over here for a second?”

 

Kiibo was standing right by the bed, but maybe he wanted to be closer? “Ah… yes? Do you need something? Like an extra pillow?”

 

Siahara reached out and slowly grabbed Kiibo’s hand before placing it on his face again. “Your hand still feels nice…” He said as he closed his eyes, “Can you keep it there for a bit?”

 

Kiibo was flustered. He knew this was rather uncommon by human standards, but then again he was aware his hand wasn’t exactly normal. It was made of metal and his advanced cooling system kept the metal rather cold even when he was in contact with a constant heat source. “Ah… of course.” Kiibo nodded his head and relaxed his hand a bit.

 

Kiibo wondered what to do in meantime. Should he stay standing? Sit on the bed? He didn’t get tired standing in one spot like a human would, so the former was possible, but it felt rather strange. He didn’t want to disturb Saihara sleeping either. He wasn’t fully asleep yet. He had a soft yet firm grip on his hand that placed it against his own face.

 

Kiibo just kneeled down by the bedside and allowed his entire palm to rest on Saihara’s face. It had dawned on to Kiibo that he had never actually seen a human fall asleep like this before. He knew they slept and knew what happened during that time, but he had never actually seen a human sleep before.

 

It was strangely soothing.

 

Saihara’s hand slowly began to relax over time. The pressure from his hand slowly gave away and lay on top of Kiibo’s own hand gently. His breathing went from drawn out huffs to long drawn out sighs.

 

At this point, Kiibo was certain it would be best to leave, but would that be okay? Saihara had kept his hand on his face like that. Would moving it wake him up? That was the last thing he wanted to do. If it was because he wanted to be selfish and move like this, he would never really feel good about it.

 

“Maybe I can wait…” Kiibo thought to himself. “Saihara may think my hand is too cold and move on his own at some point.”

 

He still felt a little awkward. He was just sitting here… watching Saihara sleep. Nothing else. It had its calming side as well. Seeing Saihara peacefully sleep like this compared to moments ago put Kiibo at ease. He wasn’t actually a doctor, so he couldn’t cure anything like this, but if he could do something to help at all, he was glad.

 

Saihara certainly needed some rest. It was over an hour before he shivered a bit and rolled over, finally releasing Kiibo’s hand. It was hard to tell from keeping his hand on him for so long, but Kiibo was certain his body temperature had fallen back to normal.

 

Now… did he leave at this point? What if Saihara woke up and needed something? Kiibo didn’t want him leaving bed until he was completely well, but it didn’t feel right to sit in someone else’s room while they were sleeping. What if he just sat facing the other way?

 

That was a good idea! Kiibo could just sit in the chair and stare at the wall. That way, if Saihara woke up and needed anything, he would be there, but he wasn’t being creepy in watching him sleep!

 

“Kiibo…” Saihara muttered shortly after he woke up some time later while sitting up, “What are you doing?”

 

“Ah!” Kiibo flinched and turned around, “I didn’t want you getting out of bed until you feel better, but watching you sleep felt…”

 

Saihara laughed a bit and leaned back against the bedframe. “Kiibo, did you really stay in here the whole time? You didn’t have to…”

 

“Ah…” Kiibo grew flustered, “But… you see… you looked really bad before… so I was kind of worried.”

 

“Thank you, Kiibo.” Saihara smiled, “I feel a lot better now. Sorry to make you worry.” Saihara rubbed the side of his face where Kiibo’s hand rested for a good while, “And uh… Sorry for using your hand like that.”

 

“N-Not at all!” Kiibo shook his head, “I’m glad I was able to help, even if it was just a little.”

 

“Still…” Saihara felt a little bad. Yes, he got a bit greedy with Kiibo’s hand while he felt drowsy, but it would have been a lie to say he didn’t enjoy that feeling.

 

“You see… I’m not exactly helpful in a lot of situations.” Kiibo explained, “So helping you… felt nice.” Kiibo blushed lightly. He didn’t want it to come off as odd, but he meant it. It was nice when he felt useful.

 

Saihara smiled back at Kiibo, “I see. In that case, I’ll see if you can help me more in the future. But…” Saihara looked around, “We’ve been in here awhile right? I wonder if people are worried about us.”

 

“I thought of that too, but no one came to visit yet…” Kiibo thought, “We should go meet up with them.”

 

“Right… I’ll walk back with you. Just give me a second to change into some clean clothes. These kind of got all sweaty.”

 

Kiibo nodded and walked outside of the room and waited. This emotion he was processing. This feeling… it was some form of excitement? The idea that he was useful at all today made him feel… very happy.

 

Kiibo smiled a bit. If this was joy, he was certainly going to look forward to it in the future.


	8. Chapter 8

Kiibo sat alone by himself today. Usually at lunch, he would sit with the other students and just watch them eat, but something was bothering him. Him being worried was probably not the most normal thing around, but he couldn’t shake it off.

 

Where would Iidabashi be?

 

Iidabashi had raised him so lovingly in the past… Surely he had some way of detecting where he was at? Some way of knowing where he was? It had been a good awhile now. Where was he at?

 

“Kiibo!” A voice rang from the other side of the yard. “Kiibo! There you are! We’ve been worried.” Saihara walked up slowly.

 

“Huh? Oh… Uhh... sorry, I didn’t realize my absence would be noticed since… I just look at you guys awkwardly.”

 

“That doesn’t mean you should walk around on your own like that.” Saihara chuckled. “But you look bothered by something. Is something wrong?”

 

Kiibo stayed quiet for a moment. He was sure he had a problem, but wasn’t sure how to phrase it out. Had anyone else asked him, he would have dismissed it, but Saihara was different. Saihara was someone willing to treat him like a person all of the time.

 

“That’s…” Kiibo fidgeted around lightly, “Do you think I’m likable?”

 

“What?” Saihara tilted his head.

 

“Likeable. Do you think people like me?” Kiibo asked.

 

“I don’t get what you’re saying but… I like you, Kiibo.” Saihara smiled. That was a strange topic for him. It would be a lie to say he wasn’t concerned by it being brought up.

 

“N-No…” Kiibo thought some more. Saihara gave a very kind answer, but it didn’t feel like it answered his problem. “More like… am I forgettable?”

 

“Forgettable?” Saihara looked at Kiibo a few times. These were strange questions, but he could tell Kiibo was trying to ask something. Maybe he would have to use his detective skills to get to the bottom of it?

 

“Like… if I were to go somewhere else tomorrow, would you think about me sometimes?”

 

“Kiibo.” Saihara leaned over, “You went missing for an hour and I came to find you.”

 

Kiibo looked at Saihara, “Ah! R-Right! You did!” he turned away slightly, “I mean… I wonder if they just can’t find me…”

 

“Who?” Saihara asked.

 

“Professor Iidabashi of course! I’m like his son, so I have no doubts he is worried about me but…” Kiibo looked at his hands, “I guess I don’t have a GPS feature.”

 

Saihara looked at Kiibo. He was clearly showing some type of homesickness. He wanted to see the professor that was like a father to him again, and had no way of finding them. “I’m sure it’s just this weird cage’s fault.” Saihara bolted in.

 

“The cage?”

 

“Yeah.” Saihara began to explain, “Sometimes, cages like this can disrupt interference with signals and other gadgets. I’m sure it’s just being blocked somehow.”

 

“Blocked…” Kiibo looked up around the cage. “I guess it’s something silly to worry about. I’m probably not the only one that feels this way.”

 

“That doesn’t mean you can’t feel like it at all though.” Saihara added quickly before Kiibo started to have the wrong idea from his own logic. “It’s fine to feel down being here sometimes.”

 

Kiibo nodded, “I guess that’s true… It still feels bad though.”

 

Saihara turned Kiibo around gently and placed his hands on the robot’s shoulders firmly. “Kiibo. I want you to listen to me.”

 

Kiibo’s eyes opened up and stared at the detective.

 

“It’s fine to feel this way. I mean… when you talk about your father… I start to think about what my parents were like and… I don’t know.”

 

“You don’t know?” Kiibo asked, “You don’t know what the people who raised you are like?”

 

Saihara shook his head, “It’s weird but… they were never really around. I guess they had work too. Maybe that’s where I get my detective trait from.” Saihara smiled weakly, “But still, even if I can’t think of anything that helps them stand out, I still want to see them again. They’re my family.”

 

“So you… were alone when you were younger…” Kiibo sighed out.

 

Saihara chuckled a bit, “That’s not the point Kiibo… Besides, they were always gone so I could go exploring. If I didn’t move out and about on that day… well… I probably wouldn’t be SHSL Detective now, would I?”

 

“So you not having a parent lead to your talent?” Kiibo stared confused, “I do seem to recall you saying you didn’t enjoy being a detective too much.”

 

“I didn’t. I still don’t, but I see my purpose now.” Saihara relaxed a bit. “This place doesn’t make things easy for anyone. Everybody just has their own hardships they get through.”

 

Kiibo looked up at the cage surrounding the sky once more. He thought closely about how Saihara had gone from almost flat out denying his talent to suddenly accepting his role to seek out the truth in so many situations.

 

It was true… everyone had their worries here. No one was ever truly safe in these parts. Yet still, Kiibo had started feeling left behind. He knew he could cling on to Saihara’s word to make himself feel better for now, but in the end, how long would that last?

 

Kiibo leaned over and landed his head on Saihara’s shoulder. Childish as it seemed over all, he just felt like pouting for a second. He was confused. Where was Iidabashi? Why hadn’t he found him with some kind of other technology? Did he really not foresee Kiibo getting lost and fail to track him down?

 

Something just didn’t feel right to him. But he could at least stay here with Saihara. Kiibo was missing for an hour and Saihara came to find him. It almost made him wonder if Saihara would go looking for him if he was gone for days like this. But he couldn’t do it. Saihara was just too good to him. “Sorry for making you worry like that. I’ll show up for dinner tonight. I promise.”

 

Saihara just looked over at Kiibo and smiled. “That’s good. Dinner is more fun when you’re around.” Saihara said and looked up at the cage in the sky.  There wasn’t much else to do, but he figured letting Kiibo sort out his own emotions was always a great way to show his concern.

 

Far away into an unknown territory, screens glowed in a dark room.  There had to have been hundreds of them over all. On the screens, every angle of the school was being shown, including Kiibo and Saihara’s interaction.

 

“Isn’t that sweet?” A dark voice spoke sarcastically. “Our little robot thinks he misses you.”

 

An elder looking man in a white jacket shrugged with little concern, “I simply coded myself in there for protocol measures while we performed modifications. My interactions with him were as minimal as the rest of the students.”

 

“Yet…” The voice calmly spoke, “You seem to enjoy watching this game from his eyes?”

 

“Of course I do.” The professor drank from his coffee mug, “It’s a new feature and I have to optimize it while I have a chance. We never know when someone will decide to randomly smash Kiibo on the head with a rock.”

 

The other man laughed slyly, “I wonder how that would go. We got enough research from him for our own projects next, right? The big guy is still worried about him.”

 

“Yes, yes.” The professor waived, “I’m already working on it. It will be much more proficient than any Monokuma that Team Danganronpa has ever produced! All while still being marketable and cute!” he sighed, “But as for this one, eh… If he doesn’t die here, we can send him in the next one to be executed.”

 

“Yes but if the signal is lost…”

 

“If the signal is lost, then we will just have to send the signal for Monokuma to fix it.” He sighed, “It’s like you were born yesterday.”

 

“The signal takes approximately 10 hours to reach from here.”

 

“Well there’s nothing we can do about it now. Just hope he doesn’t lose it until the end. Our viewers are depending on it! Do you know that this first person view has become the most popular VR screening material?”

 

The man shrugged, “Well… I guess that’s just good entertainment.”


	9. Chapter 9

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This chapter is also works a bit differently with Kiibo's role being from chapter 6 without his ahoge, so personality differences will be present.

Although everyone had grown custom towards the truth, it never made it any easier. Saihara could only recall Kaito’s last words as Monokuma sent him off towards his execution.

 

He hated it but he thanked that illness for saving Kaito from that humiliation. If anything, he went out the way he wanted: fighting back. Saihara had to remember this.

 

Still, it was important to live. Saihara had felt the despair of giving up already and knew he couldn’t quit here. There had to be people out there waiting for him for some reason or another, even if it was only Hope’s Peak itself.

 

Living like this though had some milder downsides though.

 

“Sorry, Saihara…” Tsumugi chipped in, “It’s a girl’s night out photoshoot.”

 

“That’s fine.” Saihara nervously laughed. “I’m sure I can handle one night.”

 

It was true though. He certainly could handle it easily, but it didn’t help to remind him that he was the only guy around now.

 

Actually, no… that was a lie. Kiibo was still around, if you considered him like that. Or if you considered him around at all.

 

He showed up for meals sometimes and just stared off in his own thoughts before walking off leaving without saying much beyond “Good morning”.

 

Saihara didn’t say anything, but it was weird. Too weird. He did notice a piece of his body was missing, specifically a noticeable piece of his hair, but surely hair wouldn’t cause this much of a change would it?

 

He didn’t feel the need to think on it much more. There wasn’t anything he could do anyway. “I think I should go for my exercises.” Saihara nodded, “That may help me relax a bit.”

 

Saihara walked out of his room and made his way out towards the outside area. It was true that he could have done it in his room tonight; being alone, but for some reason the night sky calmed him down. He felt better doing his exercises out there.

 

He was almost to the door when he made a sharp turn and bumped straight into something “Ah!” Saihara jumped back. He was sure he turned the corner at the right point.

 

“Saihara! Are you alright?” Kiibo’s voice rang out in slight concern.

 

“Ah.. y-yeah yeah… I just bumped my head a bit.” A bit he said, but that was putting it nicely. Kiibo was still made of solid metal.

 

“You should be more careful.” Kiibo spoke in a direct tone. “Even slight accidents can become big problems if they take you by enough surprise.”

 

Saihara looked up at Kiibo. There was no mistaking it, it was Kiibo. But… the way he spoke now… It was different. It felt… colder? No, he was still friendly and nice. It felt almost… robotic? Was that the best way to put it? Like there was emotion in his actions, but his words and facial expressions made it almost impossible to read if he was being scolded or not. “S-Sorry.”

 

“What are you doing out on your own at this hour anyway? Isn’t it dangerous?” Kiibo’s expression remained unchanged.

 

“I was just going to do my nightly exercises. The girls are all having a photo shoot with Shirogane, so I’m just by myself tonight.”

 

“That’s dangerous. Even if you are by yourself, you cannot trust Monokuma or the Mastermind to not be waiting for this.”

 

Well, that was a dark turn. “Ah… well…” It wasn’t that Kiibo was wrong, but it seemed rather drastic to go that far.

 

“If you do not mind, may I accompany you? I can ensure you are watched by a friend at all times.” Kiibo suggested.

 

Exercising with Kiibo? That was something he didn’t expect to happen. “Umm… Kiibo, do you really need exercise though? I mean—“ Saihara tried to phrase it in a way that wouldn’t upset Kiibo about being a robot.

 

“The purpose is not for my own exercise. It is to ensure you are safe from harm. I am worried about the girls, but I trust Shirogane to keep them safe.”

 

“Yeah…” Saihara nodded, “They have Maki there too.” After a small moment of thought, Saihara agreed and allowed Kiibo to join him for his nightly exercises.

 

“The… goal…” Saihara explained as he did starting stretches. “Is to work your own endurance levels. I can do about 100 pushups myself.”

 

“I see…” Kiibo noted carefully, “But why are you training your endurance? You are a detective right? Would it not be more optimal to train yourself mentally?”

 

“I’m still a person, Kiibo.” Saihara laughed but looked at Kiibo and wondered. “Hey, Kiibo, Can you do a push up?”

 

“Huh?”

 

“A push up. You weigh a bit more than me but your arms may work for them.” he phrased carefully, once again trying not to upset Kiibo.

 

Kiibo sat and thought for a strong moment before looking back up. “Understood.”

 

Ignoring the very robot like response, Saihara watched Kiibo lower himself to the ground. He saw Kiibo very easily position himself perfectly and very easily performed a few push ups and looked up, “Is that alright?”

 

“Well, you certainly can do them…” he sighed, “But I guess it doesn’t have the same effects.”

 

“I do not have muscles.” Kiibo stood up, “Trying to do those regularly would do nothing for me.”

 

Saihara blinked a bit, “Oh? Are you… okay with being different in that case?”

 

Kiibo thought carefully for a moment and looked back up. “I am. To be honest, I should not be upset when these comparisons are made at all.”

 

“Kiibo?” Saihara did a double take. Was he really talking to Kiibo? He was so confused about this sudden personality shift. Did a small piece of hair make that big of a difference?! He kind of felt bad that Miu was gone now…

 

“I am a robot. This cannot change. Robots are not humans. I cannot do things that you can do.” He explained, “Still, I would like to be seen as an equal if that would not be too much to ask.”

 

Saihara felt a little blown away. It was Kiibo, there was no doubt to it at all, but Kiibo had suddenly… grown up? No… that didn’t feel right. He had… changed.  “R-Right…” Saihara responded, “You’re still my classmate after all. I don’t see a reason to see you as anything less. But um… Kiibo…” Saihara’s face became serious, “Are you alright? You’ve been acting strange lately and I think everyone is a little worried about it.”

 

“I’m fine.” Kiibo said, “I’ve just been thinking on some things.”

 

“Do you want to talk about it?” Saihara said confidently. It was a little strange timing and he wasn’t exactly working out, but if he could see what was wrong with Kiibo, he was certainly ready to talk.

 

“There is nothing to discuss on my end.” Kiibo began, “But if my behavior is bothering everyone, I will keep that in mind.”

 

“Nothing to discuss?” Saihara repeated slowly, “Kiibo, you have been acting strange since Kaito’s death. Are you sure? I don’t want something to happen because you started distancing yourself from us.”

 

Kiibo looked at Saihara and the let his eyes trail to the ground, “We can’t let Monokuma get what he wants.” Kiibo spoke softly, “That’s all that matters.”

 

Saihara felt a pit form in his stomach when he heard that. Yes, he agreed but… Hearing Kiibo of all people say something like that really got to him. “Kiibo…” Saihara muttered out.

 

“Is something wrong?” Kiibo looked up at Saihara.

 

Saihara walked up and hugged Kiibo as close as he could. “Kiibo. Please… don’t do anything like that. We can work together, right? Something like that…”

 

Kiibo stood in shock and looked at Saihara before slowly returning the hug awkwardly, “We can work together. We’re classmates, but I do not understand your reaction. Did my words upset you?”

 

Saihara looked at Kiibo in the eyes, “Kiibo… I’m… worried. This... this isn’t like you at all. I know you want out too, but... You’re not going to do anything drastic, are you?”

 

Kiibo was quiet.

 

“Kiibo! I need an answer!”

 

“I… I will not do anything drastic that puts anyone in harm.” Kiibo replied back, “But I cannot promise it will not be drastic to begin with.”

 

Saihara sighed. He would simply have to settle on that. “Kiibo just… don’t forget about us, okay? We want out just as much as you do.”

 

Kiibo nodded. “Right. But, Saihara, did you not come outside to exercise?”

 

“Ah…” Saihara looked at the ground, “Y-yeah I guess I did. I should still be able to do them before bed.”

 

Kiibo looked at Saihara and lowered himself down, “I will join you.”

 

Saihara looked in slight distress, “I mean I guess but are you sure you can keep doing them? You don’t have that much strength yourself and…”

 

“It’s fine. I have plenty of strength for this.” Kiibo said. He looked at the school and thought on his own lab for a small moment. Had something like this happened a few days ago, he wouldn’t have been able to lift himself back up, but today...

 

“If-If you say so…” Saihara lowered himself down, “If you need to break though, just tell me.”

 

The two went at their small exercise session together in relative peace. Saihara felt a little odd being the only one huffing by the end of it all, but it made sense given that Kiibo didn’t breathe.

 

“S-So…” He huffed out, “How many did you end up doing for your first time?” Saihara asked.

 

“I counted 327 with a 10 count margin of error.” Kiibo responded.

 

“Eh?!!!” Saihara looked over at Kiibo in shock, “327?!!”

 

“Is that bad?”

 

“N-No! I mean, you’re a little different so maybe? I can’t tell?!!” Saihara tried to compare it to Maki. She could usually reach 100 in the time it took Saihara to reach about 50. That means that Kiibo was working at an even faster rate than her. But he couldn’t tell if that was good or not for a robot.

 

“I see. I guess that would be a bit much for you to tell. Still, you did good yourself.”

 

“Ah… thank you.” Saihara could not help but feel slightly disappointed with numbers like that. “Maybe we should think about heading back though. It’s getting late and I’m a little tired.” Saihara stood up quickly.

 

The thing about exercise is that you should never try to rush things afterwards. He felt a small lightheadness take over him and he fell over slightly.

 

“Saihara!” Kiibo quickly caught him. Saihara probably wasn’t in danger of hurting himself, but his body did decide to suddenly acknowledge the hour.

 

“I guess I should have thought of exercise sooner.” Saihara laughed as he tried to stabilize himself.

 

“You’re tired. I can carry you back to your room if you would like.” Kiibo pointed out.

 

“Kiibo.” Saihara looked at the robot, “Last time you tried to carry me, it almost ended with both of us on the floor.”

 

“True.” Kiibo said, “But just like push ups help humans gain strength, robots have their own means of growth.”

 

“Huh?” Saihara looked at Kiibo and within a few second, Saihara was being carried in Kiibo’s arms with ease.

 

“Let’s take you back to your room.” Kiibo said.

 

“K-Kiibo!!” Saihara shouted, “Kiibo! What!? When?! When have you?!”

 

Kiibo face softened just slightly for the first time all night, “It’s like I said. Robots can grow in their own way.”

 

Saihara felt a rush of emotions over his body. Since when was Kiibo okay with being a robot? Since when could he carry things? Why was he carrying him bridal style?!  “Kiibo… you’re… you’re changing too fast.” Saihara turned red in embarrassment at the last question on his mind. ”I can’t keep up with it.”

 

“Sorry. It is not that I don’t understand you on this, but… I think I have found something I want to do with myself.”

 

Saihara looked back on that subject with Kiibo. He recalled Kiibo was considering an idol at one point, but he was terrible at singing. Then he was thinking about being a medical assistant, but he couldn’t even lift Saihara up. That clearly wasn’t the case now but… “What is it?”

 

Kiibo remained quiet for a bit and continued to look straight ahead. He finally broke the strange silence after some time of thought, “I want to end this game.”

 

It was something sad to Saihara. He recalled Kiibo’s words and dreams from before. Listening to him now, it seemed so far back. Did killing games like this truly change people like this? Was Kiibo so tired of all the killing that he had thrown away his own dream of helping others to fight? It felt like such a waste. He leaned over and sighed a bit as Kiibo continued to carry him, “Me too, Kiibo. Me too.”


End file.
